Pale Red
by The Black Rose445
Summary: Karkat locks himself in a training room on the meteor for an elongated amount of time, and collapse from exhaustion. Lucky for him, Dave is there to take care of him. Plz read and review, b/c I need all the advice and support I can get. One-shot.


Sorry, my dear, loyal fans. I know that I have two multi-chapter fics that I have not updated in a while, but I'm felt I needed a slight break from those two romantic trains of thought to delve into the subtleties of moirailallegience. I will update Night of Fate and Patience is a Virtue as soon as possible.

Thanks: The Black Rose445

Disclaimer! I do not own homestuck, Andrew Hussie does. If I did own homestuck, many of the canon ships would be very different.

* * *

You watch the rainbow-colored sickle in your hand shimmer and waver in the dim lighting of the room. _Not now, _you think, concentrating again on the complex kata you had been working on for the past two days. _Not when I've come so far!_

Moving forward through the training room, you focus on making your twin scythes dance through the air. It was hard; you had been working on these particular movements for far too long consecutively, but you promised to push yourself. Your occasional strifes with Dave had shown that stamina was one of your major weak points, and you intend to fix this.

Approximately three hours later, you hear a soft knock on the door, just loud enough for you to hear over the sound of your panting.

"Come in!" you call, not bothering to stop and check who it is.

You already know who it is and what they are here for.

"What do you want, Dave?" you ask blandly.

"Just here to check on you." _Bingo._

"I'm fine, Dave. Fuck off." You refrain from using your usual amount of anger in your voice, deciding that it would take too much energy. Your arms lower instinctively, and you are surprised that you have already come to the end of the kata. _Time to start another one._ You turn towards the door to grab a bottle of water, but Dave is already ahead of you. He surprises you by tossing the water at you (accurately, your brain adds), but he doesn't surprise you enough to make you miss the catch.

"Thanks," you mumble before downing the water in three seconds flat.

"No problem," He replies. He pauses, and your brow furrows. _That's very… unlike him._

Dave clears his throat. "So, how long have you been out here, Karkles?" A touch of concern colors his tone, causing you to really begin to worry. But more importantly…

"About four days, I think. I haven't really been keeping up with time." You see Dave visible flinch.

"Karkat," he starts wearily, biting down on his trembling lower lip. He runs a hand through his already-messy blond hair. "Karkat, you've been in here for about two weeks."

You freeze in astonishment. Two weeks? You never thought you could go that long without rest.

Maybe you can't.

You suddenly feel exhausted, and the room begins to spin around you. _What the…_ you collapse to your knees. You think you hear someone screaming your name, but you're too far gone to remember.

You wince and moan as you struggle into consciousness. Your body feels tired and sore, and your brain feels oddly foggy. You notice a mess of blond hair on your chest, and it takes you a few moments to register who it is.

"Dave?" you whisper, voice hoarse from sleep. His head shots up at the sound of his name. He blinks a few times, looking just as confused as you are. Suddenly, his eyes grow wide, and you find yourself in a near-bone-crushing hug.

"Karkat! Thank God you're okay!" He squeezes a little bit tighter, as if to make sure you are really there. Though it hurts you a bit, you allow it only because you know it brings him comfort.

"Please, don't ever scare me like that again," you hear him whisper against your chest. You nod, lifting your arms, painfully, to return his hug. The two of you remain like this for a few, precious moments before he carefully untangles himself and leaves with a promise to be back soon.

Leaving you to your own thoughts.

You take a look around the room; at least, as much as you can from the bed. From the overwhelming amount of red and the chaotic mess that the room was in, you conclude that it can only be either yours or Dave's. The turntables in the corner confirm that it is, in fact, Dave's room, as does the broken sword against the wall and the scratched-disk shirt lying on top of one of the piles.

Dave's entrance into the room draws you away from your observations. The smell of food wafting in with him is also a reasonably good distraction. He sets the plate carefully on your lap, warning you to eat slowly because you have been asleep for a couple days. As you chow down on the food (probably made by Aradia, she's the only one who can cook so well), Dave busies himself with his turntables. Only a few moments later, a gently- almost tranquil-melody drifts through the room. Dave makes his way to you and removes the now-empty plate from your lap before sitting on the chair beside the bed and resting his head where the plate once was. A question begins to form in your head.

"Dave?" you whisper, just to get his attention.

"Hmm?"

"I was wondering…" you pause to get your thoughts in order, and he looks up at you quizzically. "Why were you scared?"

Dave sighs, sitting up and running a hand through his hair, a nervous habit of his.

"Honestly, Karkles? I have no clue. When you passed out, all I could think was 'please don't let him be hurt.' It confuses me a bit. I mean, I don't normally feel that way, not since I watched Bro take a tumble down a full flight of stairs." He stops when he realizes he'd been babbling, murmuring an apology and looking down. You, however, are suddenly putting all the pieces in place.

"Dave?" He bites his lip, but looks up. "In Alternian society, we don't have just one form of… Kanaya gave you the quadrant talk right? Yeah. What you'er feeling now…" You hesitate. "What you're feeling now is normally associated with the pale-red quadrant." Another quizzical look prompts you to continue. "Moiralallegience. Almost like human sibling-ship."

Dave scowls then sighs and smiles. Not a Strider-smirk, but an actual smile.

"That makes a lot more sense," he mumbles. You smile back, resting your head on his shoulder. You still felt tired from whatever combination of asinine had put you like this, and Dave being around was making you feel oddly safe. He leans into you slightly, carding a hand through your hair. You think you hear a soft, purring sound fill the room.

Too bad you're too far gone to realize it's you.


End file.
